BlackBerry KEYone to hit markets from 31 May starting with US and Canada

BlackBerry has pulled out of the hardware business, but thanks to its partnership with Chinese company TCL, it announced an interesting handset at MWC (Mobile World Congress) this year. The BlackBerry KEYone is an Android based smartphone that features a touchscreen as well a physical QWERTY keyboard.

The handset grabbed a lot of attention long before its official unveiling  and it was expected to begin shipping in April. However, a new report points to an official statement from TCL stating that the smartphone will be available in the US and Canada starting 31 May. Pre-orders are expected to begin from 18 May. While the unlocked BlackBerry KEYone will cost $549 (Rs 35,000 approx) in the US, the carrier-locked will be priced at CAD 199 (Rs. 10,000 approx) for a two year contract in Canada.

The BlackBerry KEYone comes with a 4.5-inch IPS display with an odd 1620 x 1080 pixels resolution sporting a pixel density of 433 ppi and Gorilla Glass 4 protection. It is powered by a Snapdragon 625 octa-core processor clocked at 2 GHz which is paired with 3 GB of RAM and an Adreno 506 GPU. At the back there is a 12 MP camera with a Sony IMX378 sensor, f/20 aperture and a dual LED flash. While on the front there is an 8 MP camera with a wide-angle lens.

The smartphone comes with 32 GB of inbuilt storage which is expandable via microSD card of up to 2TB. Of course there is the signature QWERTY keypad which also features a fingerprint sensor embedded on the space-bar key as well as capacitive touch on the entire keyboard for scrolling. Connectivity options including 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth v4.2, NFC, 3.5 mm headphone jack, and a USB Type-C port.